Real-Time Forward Kinematics and Jacobians for Control of an MRI-Guided Magnetically Actuated Robotic Catheter

TL;DR

This paper develops real-time forward kinematics and Jacobian calculations for an MRI-actuated robotic catheter, enabling precise open-loop control and paving the way for closed-loop MRI-guided interventions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel real-time kinematic modeling and Jacobian computation method for MRI-actuated robotic catheters based on Cosserat-rod theory.

Findings

Successfully controls catheter in open loop with complex trajectories

Achieves real-time computational efficiency for control

Validated accuracy and reproducibility with experimental data

Abstract

This paper presents a forward kinematics and analytical Jacobian computation approach for real-time control of a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-actuated robotic catheter. The MRI-actuated robotic catheter is modeled as a series of rigid and flexible segments and actuated by magnetic torques generated on a set of current-carrying microcoils embedded on the catheter body by the magnetic field of the MRI scanner. First, a real-time forward kinematic modeling approach of the robotic catheter employing the static Cosserat-rod theory is presented. Second, the analytical calculation approach of the forward kinematic Jacobians of the proposed forward kinematic model is presented. The accuracy, reproducibility, and computational efficiency of the proposed methods are evaluated using a robotic catheter prototype with a single coil set, where catheter tip trajectories collected by a catadioptric stereo camera tracking system are validated using the desired tip trajectories. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can successfully control the catheter in an open loop to perform complex trajectories with real-time computational efficiency, paving the way for accurate closed-loop control with real-time MR-imaging feedback.